The Price of Defending Medical Marijuana Seems Right
Reader Chucklehead sends along this widely reprinted AP story about Drew Carey, Reason.tv, and the reaction of The Price Is Right fans. Snippets:
"Smell that smell," the 49-year-old comedian says as he walks into a Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary. "That's the smell of freedom."
The video is one of 20 Carey will host for the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit educational group whose ideas "some people call libertarian" and whose mission is to "advance freedom," said president David Nott.
Carey offered to produce brief documentaries on topics ranging from traffic congestion to immigration for the foundation's Web site, Nott said….
Though medical marijuana might be controversial, media experts and fans of "The Price Is Right" said Carey's political punditry will have little, if any, effect on the stalwart show or the comedian's career.
"Twenty years ago, this would have been career suicide," said longtime celebrity publicist Michael Levine. "But in the early part of the 21st century, a guy like Drew Carey can come out with his position, and it will not injure him."…
Since Carey is so new to "Price," he's taking a risk speaking out on such a controversial topic, said Bonnie Diczhazy, who runs a "Price Is Right" fan site. People naturally connect him with the show, said Diczhazy, a 38-year-old artist from Cleveland.
But his outspokenness could also earn him new fans.
"The younger generation could learn something," she said, adding that the medical-marijuana video "doesn't affect whether or not I watch the show at all."
"'Price Is Right' is an icon in and of itself," she said. "I don't think (Carey's videos) would stop people from watching."
Carey's mini-documentaries will appear every two weeks through the end of the year on Reason.tv, Nott said. Future topics include eminent domain, school choice and immigration.
Meanwhile, "The Price Is Right" host will continue to close daily episodes with Barker's traditional spay-and-neuter refrain.
Two reactions: I really hope The Price Is Right gets rid of the spay-and-neuter refrain and replaces it with a caution against bogarting that joint. And is there any show more inherently free-market-oriented than The Price Is Right, which teaches more about price theory and the subjective theory of value in an hour than most intro econ courses do in a semester.
